FFRROOMM TTHHEE AANNNNAALLSS OOFF FFAASSCCIINNAATTIIOONN!! Volume 1: ““IInn TThheeiirr OOwwnn WWoorrddss”” Interviews & Chats FFRROOMM TTHHEE AANNNNAALLSS OOFF FFAASSCCIINNAATTIIOONN!! "From the Annals of Fascination! Volume 1: 'In Their Own Words'" is Copyright © 2014 by Richard Giovanni Russo (Author) and kept by Vortex/RGR Productions, Inc. (Publisher), a subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. All Rights Reserved, including the right to reproduce this body of work or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material without the expressed written or otherwise permission from the author and Vortex/RGR Productions, Inc., is strictly prohibited and will be challenged to the full extent of the law. Characters and situations are the creations and intellectual property of the author and are hereby Copyrighted. Unauthorized use of author created characters and situations within this work are prohibited by registered marks. Failure in complying may result in penalty under law. Editions: 1.0: August 3, 2014 Version: 1.0 2 ““ IInn TThheeiirr OOwwnn WWoorrddss”” INTRODUCTION It’s no secret that I became infatuated the moment I was introduced to Cirque du Soleil. No, I became obsessed. From the moment the lights dimmed at the Cirque du Soleil Theater at Downtown Disney West Side I was enchanted like I’d never been before. Before the experience I feared I would find the show tedious and tiresome (as I was not into theatrical arts like my friends were), but from that very first moment I sat there in rapt attention, spellbound by the artistry, the pageantry, and most of all, the acrobatic skill of La Nouba’s performers. For it was truly once upon a time… a door opened; two worlds collided. Dreams clashed with reality. The mundane mixed with the marvelous. It was no longer possible for me to tell where one world began and the other ended. I had truly entered the dominion of Cirque du Soleil, glowing with spellbinding intensity… a vibrant kaleidoscope of artistry and daring… a splash of iridescent genius. I now knew the color of imagination, and I wanted more! Those who know me have undoubtedly heard the story of how I was introduced to Cirque du Soleil many times. In fact, if you’ve read the introductions to the companion works to “From the Annals of Fascination!” you’ve no doubt seen the story there as well. Suffice it to say, my world was turned upside down the moment I was introduced to the Cirque, and it has informed my personal pursuits ever since. The Fascination! Newsletter is one of those pursuits. Born out of a need and desire to continue servicing the online Cirque fandom (by sharing all that I had been learning about Cirque since my introduction), the Fascination! Newsletter came into being. Prior to its first issue, I was sharing what I’d learned through Richasi’s Le Grand Chapiteau (an informational website launched on June 16, 1999 – Cirque’s 15 th Anniversary – to entertain and educate passers-by about all of the Cirque’s endeavors, not just one show) and through CirqueFAQ (a text-based frequently asked questions document that debuted July 24, 2001, presenting information about the company, its shows and disciplines it employed, in a more concise manner. A little over a month later the Fascination! Newsletter followed. As originally conceived, the newsletter was intended to be one component of a much larger fannish endeavor: a fan club for fans by fans. The hope was by forging together the many facets of the Cirque fandom already found online: the Cirque du Soleil Discussion Group (on Yahoo! Groups), Le Grand Chapiteau , the Cirque Webring (a network of like web-pages), and by providing our own club page and newsletter, the ultimate fan experience could be created. 3 The suggestion of a Cirque fan club was not an original idea. There was an official club of sorts at the time – “Dralion Internet Club”, which Cirque had formed when Dralion began touring in late 1999 – however, it was filled with information, music clips, and other items related to Dralion only, not for all of Cirque’s creations. That’s where this club – Fascination! – would come into play. Fascination! was started by two self-described “super-fans” of Cirque du Soleil – myself and Yuki Nakano (she ran seisouso.net) – and as we discussed some Cirque- related topics through AOL’s Instant Messenger (AIM) one night, Yuki mentioned off-hand that it would be cool to have an online fan club dedicated to Cirque du Soleil. I quickly agreed, having harbored a similar desire myself. In the subsequent minutes we discussed some potentialities – Yuki would create and host the official fan club pages while I would go on to create and publish a newsletter – and we agreed to go forward. But creating such a fan club would require the backing of the entire Cirque fan community as well, and that’s where Jen Cassity (who owned and moderated the Yahoo Group) and Jon Lewis (owner / moderator of the Cirque Webring) came into view. They readily threw their support behind the project. For my part I quickly dove into the crafting of the newsletter. I already had a number of ideas for its look and feel, what kind of content I wanted to provide, and even the overall theme of the issue (early on each issue focused on a particular show, reviewing it for the masses), but before long I knew I needed help. How could one person correlate all the news, monitor itinerary changes, look into facts and figures, and find the time to write about all the different facets of a particular show? One person couldn’t, so I turned to the Discussion Group to plumb Keith Johnson and Paul Roberts to assist me. Each had differing points of view – Keith more into the business side of the company, while Paul was more musically inclined – complimenting my desire to discover and flesh out each show’s thematical elements and history. Work began in earnest and the rest, as they say, is history... In our first issue we introduced the idea of “Fascination!” to our readers as one that was not original, that several fans around the world probably had the same thoughts about creating a Cirque fan club or newsletter, but in our little corner of the Cirque fandom, there was nothing like this out there. On August 3, 2001 the newsletter was officially born, and like a baby, our first steps were rather small and rocky. But we’ve grown considerably since then, publishing thousands of pages on Cirque du Soleil, and expanding our knowledge exponentially. And we’re still going! To celebrate Cirque du Soleil’s 30 th Anniversary (and reaching Issue #125), we’ve put together a three-volume collection of “best of” materials. Since the inception of the Fascination! Newsletter , we’ve had the honor of meeting and speaking with many current and former Cirque du Soleil artists and tradesmen. In this volume – From the Annals of Fascination! • Book 1: “In Their Own Words” – highlights many of the questions we’ve posted to Cirque du Soleil performers, musicians, technicians and behind-the-scenes personnel… and their answers. May you find their words interesting, informative and inspirational! 4 From the Annals of Fascination! Volume 1: “In Their Own Words” «« TTaabbllee ooff CCoonntteennttss || PPaaggee 11 »» JOHN-PAUL GASPARELLI Musical Director – «O» “New Musical Director for «O»! ” Ricky Russo, 2001 ................................................ 09 OLIVER “BJ” GENTEN Percussionist – Quidam “An Evenings Chat with BJ ” Ricky Russo, 2003 ................................................ 13 OLIVER “BJ” GENTEN Percussionist – Quidam “BJ, Live From Japan! ” Ricky Russo, 2004 ................................................ 24 RENÉ DUPÉRÉ Composer – Alegría, Saltimbanco & KÀ “A Conversation with René Dupéré ” Keith Johnson, 2006 ................................................ 31 5 From the Annals of Fascination! Volume 1: “In Their Own Words” «« TTaabbllee ooff CCoonntteennttss || PPaaggee 22 »» JOHN-PAUL GASPARELLI Musical Director – «O» “Catching Up with John-Paul ” Keith Johnson, 2007 ................................................ 42 STEBEN SISTERS Trapeze Artists – Saltimbanco & «O» “A Perilous Leap: The Steben Sisters ” Keith Johnson, 2007 ................................................ 56 ALAIN VINET Director of Cirque Musique “Directing Cirque's Musique ” Keith Johnson, 2009 ................................................ 71 VIOLAINE CORRADI Composer – Dralion, Varekai & Zaia “Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy ” Keith Johnson, 2009 ................................................ 81 6 From the Annals of Fascination! Volume 1: “In Their Own Words” «« TTaabbllee ooff CCoonntteennttss || PPaaggee 33 »» FERGUSON & ALLAIRE Album Producers – ZED “Making Unexpected Magic Timeless ” Keith Johnson, 2009 ................................................ 92 DANIEL LAMARRE President & COO Cirque du Soleil “Joining the Circus ” Keith Johnson, 2010 ................................................ 101 JERRY NADAL Senior VP, Resident Show Division “Keeping the Value ” Keith Johnson, 2010 ................................................ 106 BOB & BILL Album Producers – Koozå & Totem “Believing & Dreaming ” Keith Johnson, 2011 ................................................ 123 7 From the Annals of Fascination! Volume 1: “In Their Own Words” «« TTaabbllee ooff CCoonntteennttss || PPaaggee 44 »» Erich Van Tourneau Musical Director – Viva Elvis! “Taking Care of Business ” Keith Johnson, 2011 ................................................ 129 Benoit Jutras Composer – Quidam, «O» & La Nouba “Making Time Stop